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Heart Test Increases Chance of Death

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that a heart test performed on 1,000,000 critically ill patients each year has no medical benefit and increases the chance of death.

The test is called Right Heart Catheterization (RHC). In the study, 5735 intensive care patients records were examined. Of those, 2184 underwent RHC.

The findings revealed that:
•  24% had a higher death rate than those who did not have the test but were just as sick.
•  ICU stays were longer, 14.8 days vs. 13 days.
•  RHC patients incurred higher costs, $49,300 vs. $35,700.

Five previous studies also linked the test to an increased risk of complications and death while adding $2 billion a year to the cost of health care.

Of 1.7 million tests done each year world wide, 1.2 million are done in the United States. There is no consensus on appropriate use of RHC and no study has ever proven that it saves lives.